When the land drops again to the next

terrace, you are greeted by a broader and much longer lawn, again enviably immacu- late and as perfectly striped as a Savile Row suit for the City. The southern end leads through a young avenue of J. C. van Tol holly, to fabulous wrought-iron gates (rescued from Lockinge, Lady Vestey!s mother! s home, demolished in 1947). A swimming pool lies discreetly beyond. Turn the other way to look northwards along the lawns, and the eye is drawn down a vista taking in beds of mixed shrub and herbaceous planting on the right, interrupted at regular intervals by smart yew buttresses. The north end of the garden is charmingly

rustic, with wild flowers and a woodland garden of exotic trees. Far Eastern maples, such as Acer griseum and A. mono, do well here. Mr Hewertson points out ! the new must-have! ! a sapling Wollemi pine. The Chinese dogwood Cornus kousa flowers dependably with its extravagant displays of white bracts, and a hawthorn- leaved crab-apple, Malus

florentina,

bearing simple white flowers in profusion was planted following recommendation by Roy Lancaster. A garden tour is

always to the accom- paniment of much birdsong and the sweet bleating of lambs (albeit with a Kentish accent) in the valley pastures. Lord Vestey explains his changeover to Romney Marsh sheep, instead of his former flock of Suffolk mules.

nectarine house. From its central porch, an ironwork tunnel supports myriad cascading roses and clematis, with highlights of Japanese wineberry, purple-leaved vine and fragrant honeysuckle. A flagstone path leading through its kaleidoscope of summer colour reflects a dappled shade that would have captivated the likes of Monet. Further roses! particularly the dependable, pale pink Felicia! form hedges, underplanted with lavender, around traditional cropping beds of vegetables and salads for the house. There are orchard trees and a fine fruit cage for gooseberries and raspberries, surrounded by repeat-flowering, deeply fragrant Jacques Cartier roses. ! The choice of roses is being narrowed down to what succeeds well without spraying,! a dvises Mr Hewertson. Lady Vestey visits the walled garden daily

to see what is coming on or ready to harvest and much of what is there has been of her own selection, for gardens are deeply seated in her psyche, and not only from the days of her childhood. ! Even when I was training as a nurse in London, I used to go to Kew all the time! I loved it.! She is also clear about her husband!s more finely tuned horti- cultural enthusiasms.

! Stowell is one of the Cotswolds! hidden gardens! not many people know about us!

! Romney Marsh look nice, they are hardy and they lamb outside. All good. However, they! re not used to walls, and when there were the floods last year, they wouldn! t move, because they are used to being surrounded by water. We had to go in and fetch them.! The gardens mentioned so far would be

enough to give Stowell superior horti- cultural credentials, particularly in so lovely a location. But there is much more to be explored in nearly two acres of Victorian and Edwardian walled gardens east of the house, laid out by Belcher and his successor and now managed organically, with tradi- tional crop rotations. An 180ft stretch of glasshouses on one wall, rebuilt with new cedar in the 1990s, includes a vinery of juicy white Muscat of Alexandria grapes superbly grown, and an envy-inducing peach and

Top The west front of the house, with the fine lawns and yew buttresses of the second terrace, looking southwards. Left Gaps in the York paving provide homes for Mediterranean herbs, and stone urns bring a note of formality

www.countrylife.co.uk

! I can tell you the things my husband likes from the garden: first of all, the carnations, which he likes to wear in his buttonhole when he! s at Royal Ascot; also asparagus, peaches, grapes and runner beans! his absolute

favourite.! All of these are grown to perfec- tion by Mr Hewertson and his team; it! s no mean feat as organic methods are used, but the gardens are so richly diverse that there is plenty of bird and (beneficial) insect life present to maintain a healthy balance. The lower walled garden is particularly

rich in cutting flowers! peonies, irises, dahlias, phlox; also the runner beans, rows of handsome artichokes and several board-edged beds of asparagus, which Mr Hewertson finds are naturally protect- ed. ! It took the sparrows down on Home Farm about two years to find the bird feed- ers here, but now they! ve arrived and they squabble in the Clematis armandii all day long. But they do come out onto the asparagus and eat all the asparagus-beetle larvae. Once upon a time, four of us used to go round together, squashing the things, but now we find that the sparrows pick most of them off.!

Stowell Park, Northleach, Gloucester- shire, GL54 3LE. The gardens will open for the National Gardens Scheme (www.ngs.org.uk) charities on June 20, 2pm! 5pm, with homemade teas

Country Life, May 19, 2010 111 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31